AMITW Weekly Nest Numbers 8/22/2025
| 8/16/2025 – 8/22/2025 | Loggerhead | Green | |
| Nests this week | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| False Crawls this week | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 Total Nests | 541 | 526 | 15 |
| 2025 Total False Crawls | 828 | 797 | 31 |
| 2025 Hatched Nests | 314 | 307 | 7 |
| 2025 Nests Inventoried | 297 | 291 | 6 |
| 2025 Hatchlings Produced | 22,311 | 21,969 | 342 |
| 2025 Adult Disorientations | 30 | 28 | 2 |
| 2025 Hatchling Disorientations | 118 | 117 | 1 |
| Nests remaining on the beach | 224 | 215 | 9 |
Exciting news!! Emerson Point Preserve Nest HATCHED this week. The nest had a total of 98 eggs and 81 of them hatched giving the nest an 83% hatch success! Very exciting for the first nest ever documented there! A big AMI THANK YOU goes out to Manatee County staff Kyle and Pete who noticed this nest when it was laid and monitored it daily until they saw it hatch!
LAST Turtle and Shorebird Talk of the season
Our last Turtle Tracks and Shorebird Facts will be this coming Monday Aug 25 from 10 – 11am at Holmes Beach City Hall (5801 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach). Please come and learn about sea turtles and shorebirds of AMI and how you can help us protect them!
HATCHLINGS!
We are happy to report that this year, we have successfully hatched 22,311 hatchlings already!! This is more hatchlings than we produced in 2024 (20,633), and almost as many that were produced in 2023 (22,713) – and the season is not over yet! We still have 224 nests remaining on the beach 🙂
With all these hatchlings being produced, we want to make sure they successfully reach the water! Hatchlings use light as a cue. They go away from dark backgrounds and towards the bright night sky over the water. We are urging everyone to do their best to keep light from reaching the beach and disorienting hatchlings:
- No cell phone or flashlights (even red lights) on the beach at night
- Close blinds so interior lights cannot be seen from the beach
- Use turtle-friendly lighting (red or amber LEDs) with shields or turn off lights that can be seen from the beach.
- Report any non-turtle friendly lights that can be seen from the beach to your local code enforcement.
If you find a hatchling in danger, in the road, in a pool, or just off the beach, here’s what to do:
- Pick up the hatchling to get it out of danger
- Place it in a bucket/container (you can put a little sand in the bucket but NO WATER!)
- Call AMITW’s Hotline 941-301-8434 for more instructions
- Please do not release hatchlings on your own. If they are sick or injured, they may not be able to swim.
Please do not use lights to direct hatchlings to the water at night. This disorients other hatchlings down the beach and also attracts fish and other predators. Block or turn off the light that the hatchlings are seeing so they have a dark background and can find the night sky over the Gulf on their own.
Please do not put hatchlings directly in the water. Hatchlings need to crawl on the beach to get their blood flowing to all their extremities, their lungs fully expanded, and to imprint on the beach where they were born.
If you find a hatchling in a pool or storm drain, call AMITW’s Hotline 941-301-8434 ASAP. These hatchlings will need rehabilitation before they can be released.
Photos from this week:
Turtle Patrol Sunrise: Turtle patrol starts at sunrise to look for new turtle crawls and check all the nests on Anna Maria Island. Credit: Terri Edwards
Green Hatchling: A closeup of a green hatchling found in a nest during an excavation, 3 days after the nest hatched on it’s own. Green turtles are rare nesters on AMI – only 15 green turtle nests were laid in 2025. Credit: Linda O’Neal
Emerson Preserve: Kristen Mazzarella and Peggy Welch excavate the first sea turtle nest ever recorded at Emerson Point Preserve. They found that 81 of 98 eggs hatched and emerged from the nest! Credit: Cindy Hodge
Disoriented Nest: Disorientations are when hatchlings travel away from the water towards artificial lighting. Hatchling tracks from this nest indicate that although just feet from the water, all the hatchlings traveled inland towards lights. Credit: Maureen Richmond
Hatchlings In Pool: AMITW has rescued over 250 hatchlings from pools this summer (and that’s not counting all the ones we weren’t called to that were rescued by the public). Credit: Kristen Mazzarella (video upon request)
Hatchling Release: AMITW volunteers draw a crowd as they release 5 green sea turtles found in a nest during an excavation. Credit: Cindy Hodge